About
Brooks & Family Equine Retirement
At Brooks & Family Equine Retirement we provide a slice of horse heaven for your equine family member's golden years: 40+ acres of rolling green hills to share with a select group of up to 10 horses. This is horse Hospice, so it's the last home your horse will have. Your horse will get excellent care, but without life-extending measures that leave them suffering.
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Your horse will also have a purpose. Horses at BFER must be gentle and well-behaved because they will provide touch therapy for humans in need, including older adults, children and adults with developmental, physical and emotional disabilities, and Veterans. Loved ones can visit their horses or human families in this peaceful outdoor environment, rather than in stuffy barns/nursing homes.
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We are a tax-exempt nonprofit community.
Our Mission
Brooks & Family Equine Retirement is dedicated to providing top of the line care and attention to elderly horses that have been retired. This is done by combining individual attention with top of the line facilities and open space for the horses to live on.
Who We Are
Sherrie Hall, Executive Director:
Sherrie is a Marshfield, Missouri native who lived the last several decades in St. Louis, Missouri, where she met her husband, Jeff. She’s an attorney who represents employees and labor unions. But first and foremost, she’s always been a horse lover. One of her earliest dreams was to run a horse sanctuary. Now she’s making that dream come true, thanks in large part to her inheritance of 45 acres of land inside the city limits of Marshfield.
Sherrie’s grandparents were Charles and Wilma Brooks, who passed the land down to her mother, Suzanne Brownstein, who passed the land down to her (with the blessings of Sherrie’s brothers, Jon and David). Brooks and Family Equine Retirement farm (BFER) is named in loving tribute to her mom and grandparents. Indeed, Sherrie’s mom was part of the planning of the farm before her death.
BFER started as a way for Sherrie and Jeff to combine their passions. In addition to Sherrie’s lifelong passion for horses, they both wanted to make the Marshfield acreage a working farm again and a means of serving the community. And Sherrie wanted her beloved horse, Dezi, and all the Dezi’s of the world that she can handle, to be able to live out their golden years in an environment of abundance and pampering. She also thought that the natural warmth and beauty of horses could meaningfully enhance the lives of elderly people, through touch therapy: petting, brushing, hand-feeding of extremely gentle horses. That vision has now expanded to include touch therapy for Veterans and disabled people (developmentally and physically).
Jeff Hall, Farm Manager:
Jeff is a man of many talents. He served in the US Army, where he made the President’s 100 with his shooting prowess and helped with peace-keeping on the DMZ in Korea. As a civilian, he worked in the emergency medical field for almost 2 decades as an EMT, paramedic and dispatcher, then became
President and Business Representative for Teamsters Local 610, where he represented those same
emergency medical providers and others, fire fighters, police officers, school bus drivers, nursing home
employees and more.
A native of Bridgeton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Jeff has always considered himself a “country
boy.” And he’s taken to it like water since his move to his wife’s hometown, Marshfield, in June 2023.
Jeff’s now the proud owner of a John Deere tractor, a John Deere zero-turn mower, a Ram Big Horn
truck, and a couple of ATVs. He spent his first summer and fall here making myriad repairs to the barn
and fencing, brush-hogging overgrown fields, cutting out thickets and small trees that didn’t belong, and
otherwise providing for the comfort of the horses. (His truck bears the equine teeth mark to prove it –
thanks Sof!)
Jeff is also the planner of the physical facilities. He’s the architect for the Phase II barns, which he keeps
tweaking. With the help of Sherrie’s brother David, he’s been planning to rebuild the pond that we
believe originated in the early 30s. And he’s planning the installation of the perimeter fencing that
Sherrie’s grandfather uninstalled in his later years.
But his pride and joy is gardening. Jeff started planting in Marshfield in 2022. He has now tilled and re-
tilled his outdoor garden umpteen times, mixing in horse manure and composting. He planted fruit
trees, grapevines, and blueberries bushes in Fall 2023. He designed a greenhouse, which is being
installed in the early winter months of 2024. Some of the produce will directly benefit the horses – e.g.,
carrots, apples and lettuce. He intends to offer excess produce to the community with a request for
donations to BFER.
Erika Parrot Beeler, Board Treasurer & Secretary
Erika and Sherrie met while horseback riding the trails of Castlewood State Park and a friendship quickly developed. When they each moved their horses away from the stables, Erika feared that may be the end of the friendship but fortunately that wasn't the case. The riding adventures continue despite the distance between them and now they sit on each other's Boards providing safe havens for rescued horses (and more). Erika is also the Executive Director of Forester Farms.
Our Sponsors
Blue Ribbon Sponsors
Local110 - https://www.lu110.com/
Local 110 members work in construction in St. Louis County, Jefferson County, and Washington County. LIUNA Local 110 was formed on October 27, 1933 and is an affiliate of LIUNA—the Laborers’ International Union of North America—the most progressive, aggressive and fastest-growing union of construction workers, and one of the most diverse and effective unions representing public service employees.
Red Ribbon Sponsors
Branch Communications - https://branchcomm.com/
Dean Team Automotive - https://www.deanteam.com/
Steven Doebber Wealth Management - https://www.northwesternmutual.com/financial/advisor/steven-doebber/
CWA Local 6300 - https://cwa-union.org/locals/cwa-local-6300
Becky and Stewart Goldstein